Edible Leeds - Wild Food Foraging Courses and 4 Wild Seasons Pop Up Dining Events

Discovered a couple of varieties of Magnolia tree yesterday while out harvesting for a batch of Easter Ledge Pudding ( http://edible-leeds.blogspot.co.uk/p/recipes_11.html ). Magnolia petals, sorrel, wild garlic/flowers, garlic mustard, ground elder, pickled barberry blosoms, a few drops of rowan shoot syrup. Strong & bold tastes/flavours; bitter, sweet, sour, acid & ginger, spice, pepper, warmth.

Those of you that have read my earlier posts will have seen that in April 2014 I journeyed to the Lake District to meet, Mark Williams of Galloway Wild Foods (see earlier postings). My reason for doing so initially stemmed from a desire to get about more, meet various folk from the wild food community to learn, share skills and generally do some networking. I deem this an important facet for my own professional development but have since found it to be more deeply enriching than I could ever have imagined.

Stumbled across this today via a link on Twitter: http://leeds-list.com/food-and-drink/10-things-you-need-to-eat-in-leeds-this-spring/

Firstly, this article isn't about 'consciousness altering/psycotropic substances' - that would no doubt expose me to serious scrutiny from the powers that be, thanks but no thanks. However, this post is about wild flora & fungi and my culinary experimentations with some of them. 2014 was, among many things, a year of wild food experimentation, most years are come to think of it - always something new to discover and explore. One technique I explored and had particularly great success with was, powdering. Powdering wild mushrooms, seaweeds, plants, roots and seeds is great fun. Not only is it fun but wild powders, add to and enhance, aromas, textures, tastes and even aesthetics, while at the same time freeing up much required storage space - bonus!

Leeds-List article as detailed:   Article by: Joseph Sheerin Embark on a forage for natural foods, get some fresh air and enjoy the freshest flavours around with the Spring Wild Food Walk and Gourmet Meal. No strangers to getting mucky, The Conservation Volunteers have reclaimed green spaces in Leeds since 1959. Once such space is Skelton Grange, located just outside Leeds city centre. There, they’ve helped provide jobs, train conservation workers, and provide courses and events, all based around the natural environment. This April, they’re inviting you to get involved too, with their Spring Wild Food Walk and Gourmet Meal. Leading this fascinating event is Craig Worrall of Edible Leeds, who was bitten by the foraging bug back when he met Dan Malster, a former countryside ranger for Leeds City Council. Since then, he’s been showing people all over the city how they can find and identify natural foods and create delicious treats from them like Japanese Knotwe...

Last year, I unfortunately missed out on an opportunity to contribute a recipe for the Forage London site, hosted and run by the very passionate wild food enthusiast and all round lovely guy, John Renston. John kindly emailed me earlier this year asking would I like to contribute a recipe this time round - absolutely I would! John has put together a super blog this month featuring 5 stunning recipes, by John, fellow foragers, Mark Williams, Peter Studzinski and myself. To view the recipes just click on the link: http://www.foragelondon.co.uk/5-wonderful-wild-spring-recipes/ . While there check out the rest of Johns site, some great stuff to peruse.